NFL: League, players union use weekend to assess positions

Those optimistic about the NFL's labor talks with the players' union will point to the sides' decision to push back the bargaining deadline by a week and think, as commissioner Roger Goodell put it:

"The fact that we're continuing this dialogue is a positive sign."

And those who are pessimistic about where this all eventually is headed will recognize that, as league lead negotiator Jeff Pash described it:

"We've got very serious issues. We've got significant differences."

The sides were using this weekend to assess their positions, before resuming talks in front of a federal mediator Monday -- and then they will have until 8:59 p.m. Friday (PT) to reach a new collective bargaining agreement, thanks to two extensions of the old deal. It originally was to have expired last Thursday. What will happen is still anyone's guess. A deal could be reached at any time. Talks could break off. The sides could agree to yet another extension.

The sides had gone more than two months without face-to-face, formal bargaining on a new CBA. But recently, the league and NFL Players Association spent time at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in Washington on 11 of 15 days. According to mediator George Cohen, the tenor of the talks has changed.

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The two parties reached a "level of dialogue" and "constructive discussion" where they "fully, frankly and candidly talk to each other," Cohen said Friday.

The extension until Friday indicates neither side was quite ready to make the drastic move of shutting down a league that rakes in $9 billion of revenue a year.

Money, not surprisingly, is what is at the center of the standoff. One person with knowledge of the negotiations told the Associated Press on Friday that the NFLPA has not agreed to any major economic concessions -- and that the NFL has not agreed to the union's long-held demand that the league completely open its books and share all financial information.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Cohen asked everyone involved not to comment on the substance of the talks.

The key issues all along have been: 1).

How to divide revenues. Under the old deal, owners received $1 billion off the top. They entered these negotiations seeking to add another $1 billion to that; 2).

A rookie wage scale; 3).

The owners' push to expand the regular season from 16 games to 18 while reducing the preseason by two games; 4).

Benefits for retired players.

Eagles: Offensive tackle King Dunlap was charged with reckless driving and disorderly conduct Friday. According to police in Nashville, Tenn., Dunlap drove his Cadillac Escalade onto the sidewalk outside the arena staging the SEC women's basketball tournament. He told officers he was picking up his father, who uses a wheelchair. Dunlap refused to move his car when police asked him to -- despite the police offering to help his father -- and was arrested.

Ravens: Safety Tom Zbikowski (1-0) will be on the undercard of Miguel Cotto-Ricardo Mayorga title fight March 12 in Las Vegas. He will face Richard Bryant in a four-round heavyweight bout.